Evening Standard View: Prisons were full and the criminal justice system in crisis long before the riots

The move to jail swiftly those who took part in riots this month played a vital part in ending the violence. Yet it also had the unavoidable effect of adding further strain to this country’s overcrowded prisons and under-pressure criminal justice system.

As a result, an emergency measure to prevent prisons overflowing has been activated. Operation Early Dawn, previously triggered in May, allows defendants to be released on bail, rather than taken to a court hearing, should no prison space be available. The plan has been implemented in the North East and Yorkshire; Cumbria and Lancashire; the East and West Midlands and Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire.

This is clearly far from optimal. When prisons are full, police effectively lose an important part of their power. Officials are at pains to provide reassurance that police will continue to make any arrests necessary to maintain order, yet the public will be understandably concerned. There is ultimately a finite amount of prison capacity.

Now is not a time for hyperbole, but nor is it right to hide the truly appalling state of England’s prisons and justice system as a whole. Only last month, the new Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, warned that prisons were “on the point of collapse” and that if the Government failed to act, the country faced “a total breakdown of law and order”.

Indeed, Mahmood has already announced plans to reduce the proportion of the sentence inmates must serve behind bars from 50 per cent to 40 per cent, a temporary move expected to result in 5,500 offenders being released in September and October. The directive does not apply to those convicted of sex offences, terrorism, domestic abuse or some violent offences.

Prisons minister, Lord Timpson, has blamed the previous administration for the current crisis, saying: “We inherited a justice system in crisis and exposed to shocks. As a result, we have been forced into making difficult but necessary decisions to keep it operating.” Yet public sympathy is unlikely to be long-lasting. From overcrowding to trust in policing, the criminal justice system was in crisis before the impact of the riots, and will continue to be so, unless this new government makes addressing the many problems a political priority.